Climate change adaptation in agriculture: practices and technologies. Messages to the SBSTA 44 agriculture workshops

In 2014 the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), as part of its mandate to consider issues related to agriculture, decided to invite submissions from parties and observers, covering four topics, in 2015 and 2016. Of the two topics for consideration in 2016, one relates to ‘identification and assessment of agricultural practices and technologies to enhance productivity in a sustainable manner, food security and resilience, considering the differences in agro-ecological zones and farming systems, such as different grassland and cropland practices and systems’. In this info note we provide a brief overview of key practices and technologies. A twinned info note considers higher-level measures of adaptation in agriculture, such as policies and institutions

The effect of air pollution on stone decay: the decay of the Drachenfels trachyte in industrial, urban, and rural environments—a case study of the Cologne, Altenberg and Xanten cathedrals

Severe stone deterioration is evident at the Cologne cathedral. In particular, the “Drachenfels” trachyte, which was the building material of the medieval construction period, shows significant structural deterioration as well as massive formation of gypsum crusts. The present article investigates crust formation on limestone, sandstone, and volcanic rock from the Cologne cathedral as well as from the Xanten and Altenberg cathedrals. These three buildings, showing varying degrees of deterioration, are located in different areas and exposed to varying industrial, urban, and rural pollution. Thin laminar and black framboidal crusts form on calcareous as well as silicate stone. The lack of a significant intrinsic calcium and sulfur source for the formation of the gypsum crusts on the Drachenfels trachyte indicates major extrinsic environmental impact: a sufficient offer of SOx from pollutant fluxes as well as external calcium sources (e.g., pollution, mortars, neighboring calcite stones). Chemical analyses reveal strong gypsum enrichment within the crusts as well as higher concentrations of lead and other pollutants (arsenic, antimony, bismuth, tin, etc.), which generally can be linked to traffic and industry. The formation of weathering crusts in an industrial environment is clearly distinguishable from that in rural areas. Scanning electron microscopy observations confirm that the total amount of pollution is less at the Altenberg cathedral than at the Cologne and Xanten cathedrals. XRF analyses show that the formation of gypsum occurs in lower amounts at Altenberg. This correlates well with the measured SO2 content and the intensity of the decay at the different locations. Furthermore, the different types of crusts, e.g., framboidal and laminar, can be differentiated and assigned to the different locations. The black weathering crusts on the silicate Drachenfels trachyte contribute to the degradation of the historic building material. They enhance mechanical moisture-related deterioration processes and the decay by chemical corrosion of rock-forming minerals. Although SO2 concentrations in air have shown a strong decrease over the past 30 years, degradation in connection with weathering crusts is still observed. This indicates that not only contemporary or recent emissions, but also past pollutant concentrations have to be considered

Major shear zones of southern Brazil and Uruguay: escape tectonics in the eastern border of Rio de La plata and Paranapanema cratons during the Western Gondwana amalgamation

The Mantiqueira Province represents a series of supracrustal segments of the South-American counterpart formed during the Gondwana Supercontinent agglutination. In this crustal domain, the process of escape tectonics played a conspicuous role, generating important NE-N-S-trending lineaments. The oblique component of the motions of the colliding tectonic blocks defined the transpressional character of the main suture zones: Lancinha-Itariri, Cubato-Arcadia-Areal, Serrinha-Rio Palmital in the Ribeira Belt and Sierra Ballena-Major Gercino in the Dom Feliciano Belt. The process as a whole lasted for ca. 60 Ma, since the initial collision phase until the lateral escape phase predominantly marked by dextral and subordinate sinistral transpressional shear zones. In the Dom Feliciano Belt, southern Brazil and Uruguay, transpressional event at 630-600 Ma is recognized and in the Ribeira Belt, despite less coevally, the transpressional event occurred between 590 and 560 Ma in its northern-central portion and between ca. 625 and 595 Ma in its central-southern portion. The kinematics of several shear zones with simultaneous movement in opposite directions at their terminations is explained by the sinuosity of these lineaments in relation to a predominantly continuous westward compression.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)FAPESP-Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo[03/13246-6]Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)FAPESP-Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo[04/07837-4]Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)FAPESP-Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo[05/58688-1

Dating recurrent shear zone activity and the transition from ductile to brittle deformation: white mica geochronology applied to the neoproterozoic Don Feliciano Belt in South Brazil

Argon geochronology of white mica has a good potential of recording recurrent dynamic recrystallization in shear zones in the transition from ductile to brittle deformation, as temperature ranges for mineral crystallization and isotopic closure of different grain-size fractions overlap between ca. 275–425 ◦C. This study presents over 40 K-Ar ages of coarse-grained muscovite and multiple clay-sized white mica fractions extracted from mylonites and fault gouges in southernmost Brazil, complemented by detailed structural and XRD characterization. The widespread obtained ages are best explained in the context of recurrent deformation under retrograde conditions during progressive strain localization and transition from low-grade ductile deformation into brittle faulting. The onset of the Ibar´e Shear Zone is constrained in the Tonian, followed by reactivation during the Ediacaran evolution of the adjacent Dom Feliciano Belt, which records a remarkable long-term history of recurrent deformation for over 100 Myr. New data extends the geochronological constraints of the Dorsal do Canguçu Shear Zone into low-temperature conditions, estimating the onset of brittle activity at 525-470 Ma by dating early fault gouges formed shortly after final syn-kinematic white mica crystallization in the hosting mylonites. Dating of recurrent faulting events during the Paleo-Mesozoic complement the regional sedimentary and thermochronological record.Fil: Hueck, Mathias. Universität Göttingen; Alemania. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Wemmer, Klaus. Universität Göttingen; AlemaniaFil: Basei, Miguel A. S.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Philipp, Ruy P.. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; BrasilFil: Oriolo, Sebastián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Heidelbach, Florian. University of Bayreuth; AlemaniaFil: Oyhantcabal, Pedro. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Siegesmund, Siegfried. Universität Göttingen; Alemani

Forestry

During the last decade of the 20th century, deforestation in the tropics and forest regrowth in the temperate zone and parts of the boreal zone remained the major factors responsible for emissions and removals, respectively. However, the extent to which the carbon loss due to tropical deforestation is offset by expanding forest areas and accumulating woody biomass in the boreal and temperate zones is an area of disagreement between land observations and estimates by top-down model